The Lord of the Flies: Blog 1

The cultural assumption in 'The Lord of the Flies' by William Goulding, is that people who were obese or had asthma, did not fight for their country in War and were not considered proud of or courageous. Although in the book, it implies that fat people are always considered to have asthma or unfit.

William Goulding shows the cultural assumption by the character 'Piggy', who has asthma, is obese and quite unfit. This was impractical for men back in the 1950's because of how much hard work and efforts they had to put in for war.

The cultural assumption also states that the protagonist, Ralph, tries to rule over Piggy, some may say the 'side-kick', because he is ought to be weak and useless. Ralph takes this opportunity to intimidate Piggy and persuade him to be his leader. A few examples of this cultural assumption is Ralph and Piggy arguing about his asthma. Piggy says to Ralph; The fat boy stood by him, breathing hard. “My auntie told me not to run,” he explained, “on account of my asthma.” “Ass-mar?” “That’s right. and “I’ll come.” Ralph turned to him. “You’re no good on a job like this.”

I feel as though this cultural assumption will not be approved in today's society. Although, people will still stereotype asthmatics to this day, and will not want them because their health condition may not meet the requirements of the task eg; war, running a marathon, personal training jobs etc.

In 1950's England, Men were expected to be fit and healthy to fight for their country in War. The book was written during the 1950's 5 years after the World War II had just finished. Goulding challenges the assumption by making the character 'Piggy' willing to try and be a part of the 'fit' group. He always wants to join in and do what they are doing.

Comment Stream

I really like the way that you explained the cultural assumption that you chose which is the unfairness and the way obese or people with asthma were treated but I think it could have been explained a little bit better. I believe that the examples explain the cultural assumption well and it gave me a good understanding of your cultural assumption. I can identify that the elements used is character and plot. You have linked the cultural assumption well to the context of the text as you have refer to the 1950's when explaining. I can identify the author being William Golding however I can't find where it says their view about the assumption. Both our books are set on the 1950's which means that our characters and the words on the text are the same. Top effort😁